The Chairman and Chief Executive Office of Murray Energy, Robert E. Murphy became notorious during the presidential campaign by allegedly forcing workers to go to a Romney rally. Now, Murray has responded to President Obama’s re-election with a prayer and dozens of layoffs.
The Ohio CEO declared that the reelection would continue a “war on coal” and announced a time for prayer and firings — proclaiming “Lord, please forgive me and anyone with me in Murray Energy Corp. for the decisions that we are now forced to make to preserve the very existence of any of the enterprises that you have helped us build.” It appears that he “did not build that” alone, to use an Obama phrase.
Murray then broke away from a request for the grace of God to laid off 54 people at American Coal, one of his subsidiary companies, and 102 at Utah American Energy.
You may recall Murray from the August 2007 mine collapse where six miners were trapped at the Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah.
Later, the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) hit the mine with its highest penalty for coal mine safety violations, $1.85 million. Murray would ultimately lobby heavily against new procedures needed to avoid such deaths in the future.
The employees this week were able to walk out of Murray’s company — a certain improvement. However, before being kicked out, the employees were given Murray’s prayer as solace on their way out the door:
Dear Lord:
The American people have made their choice. They have decided that America must change its course, away from the principals of our Founders. And, away from the idea of individual freedom and individual responsibility. Away from capitalism, economic responsibility, and personal acceptance.
We are a Country in favor of redistribution, national weakness and reduced standard of living and lower and lower levels of personal freedom.
My regret, Lord, is that our young people, including those in my own family, never will know what America was like or might have been. They will pay the price in their reduced standard of living and, most especially, reduced freedom.
The takers outvoted the producers. In response to this, I have turned to my Bible and in II Peter, Chapter 1, verses 4-9 it says, “To faith we are to add goodness; to goodness, knowledge; to knowledge, self control; to self control, perseverance; to perseverance, godliness; to godliness, kindness; to brotherly kindness, love.”
Lord, please forgive me and anyone with me in Murray Energy Corp. for the decisions that we are now forced to make to preserve the very existence of any of the enterprises that you have helped us build. We ask for your guidance in this drastic time with the drastic decisions that will be made to have any hope of our survival as an American business enterprise.
Amen.
Of course, he could not fire the “young people” in his “own family.” This is a familiar lament among some Romney supporters, including one at a Romney fundraiser at the Hamptons who stated:
“I don’t think the common person is getting it. Nobody understands why Obama is hurting them.
“We’ve got the message,” she added. “But my college kid, the baby sitters, the nails ladies — everybody who’s got the right to vote — they don’t understand what’s going on. I just think if you’re lower income — one, you’re not as educated, two, they don’t understand how it works, they don’t understand how the systems work, they don’t understand the impact.”
He is also not alone in threatening or actually firing people if Obama won. Indeed, a Utah CEO fired over 100 people and blamed it on Obama’s reelection. However, Murray does this all with a bit more religious fervor.
Source: Washington Post
What’s up it’s me, I am also visiting this website daily, this web site is really good and the users are really sharing good thoughts.
“Elaine M.
1, November 13, 2012 at 9:13 pm
idealist,
I don’t have a clue as to why you keep trying to poke me with a stick.”
=========================
ElaineM,
Can you:
1) explain what poking with a stick is? I am not familiar with that American term?
2) give a recent example of my doing so?
Not understanding, I can not offer to stop, nor apologize for what I don’t understand is the fault involved.
“‘honorary consul’ of the Republic of Korea”???????
TPM Editor’s Blog
Jill Kelley, An Embarrassment to Honorary Consuls Everywhere
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/11/jill_kelley_an_embarrassment_to_honorary_consuls_e.php
WTF? I give. (Yes, appropriate music, Gene H.)
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/11/13/jill_kelley_is_an_honorary_consul_of_south_korea
” Jill Kelley, the Tampa socialite connected to ISAF Commander John Allen and former CIA Director David Petraeus, is an “honorary consul” of South Korea, a diplomatic official with direct knowledge of the arrangement told The Cable.
“She is an ‘honorary consul’ of the Republic of Korea,” the official said. “She assumed this position last August thanks to her good connections and network.”
The position of honorary consul is symbolic and has no official responsibilities, the official said.
“She does not work as a real consul. They play a role to improve the relationship between the ROK and the U.S.,” the official said. “Jill Kelley helped to get support for [the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement] and she arranged meetings between the ROK Ambassador to Washington and local businessmen when the ROK Ambassador visited the Tampa area.”
There’s no implication that the South Korean government has anything to do with the growing scandal that involves Kelly, Allen, Petraeus, and Paula Broadwell, Petraeus’s biographer and alleged mistress. But her work on behalf of the South Koreans may explain some of the 20,000 to 30,000 pages of e-mails between her and Allen that the Defense Department’s Inspector General’s office is investigating now. “
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/tampa-woman-was-hostess-to-the-military-but-had-deep-financial-troubles/2012/11/13/45cea33c-2d19-11e2-9ac2-1c61452669c3_story_1.html
“A military officer who is a former member of Petraeus’s staff said Kelley was a “self-appointed” go-between for Central Command officers with Lebanese and other Middle Eastern government officials.”
Elaine,
Some stories just suggest their own musical score. 😀
Interesting. Thanks, Sm. What a mess.
“In the email received by Gen. Allen, Ms. Broadwell—writing under the pseudonym KelleyPatrol—described Ms. Kelley as a “seductress” and warned the general about being entangled in a relationship with her, the official said. A lawyer for Ms. Broadwell didn’t return messages seeking comment Tuesday.
Gen. Allen was concerned by that email and forwarded it to Ms. Kelley, the official with knowledge of Gen. Allen’s thinking said.
FBI agents conducted a consensual search at Ms. Broadwell’s home in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, though it was unclear why. Multiple government officials have said that while the FBI doesn’t believe Mr. Petraeus committed any crimes, they are still examining Ms. Broadwell’s conduct.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said that the Pentagon received the information concerning Gen. Allen from the FBI on Sunday.
Some officials believe that if Gen. Allen’s account is proved true—that there was no physical relationship and that flirtation was mostly on the part of Ms. Kelley—his nomination to become NATO commander won’t be derailed. Gen. Allen will remain commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan while the facts are ascertained, Mr. Panetta said.” WSJ
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57549397/jill-kelleys-private-life-displays-two-sides/
“A former military officer told us that Kelley often sought to bypass protocol officers and make direct connections with the top generals such as David Petraeus, and General John Allen. She also courted their wives. Sources describe her as a prolific emailer and caller. One admiral instructed an aide: “You’ll have to manage her for me.”
Living in a million-dollar home, the Kelley’s seemed to perfectly blend social status, patriotism, and philanthropy. But records on file with the state of Florida show nine different court actions involving debts, mortgages, and a foreclosure.
Kelley’s powerful military connections surfaced in another court matter when she sought help for her twin sister, Natalie Khawam, in a bitter child custody fight.
General John Allen and former CIA Director and retired General David Petraeus signed letters to the court that bear four-star-general emblems and are dated five-and-a-half weeks ago.
“Natalie clearly dotes on her son,” wrote Petraeus. “It is unfortunate, in my view, that her interaction with her son has been so limited by the custody settlement.”
General Allen says the toddler shouldn’t be penalized by “limiting his expectations to experience the love, mentorship, and guidance of his mother.”
The judge in the case had a different view. He expressed “profound concerns about Ms. Khawam’s “extreme distortions” and “severe psychological deficits.” He called Khawam a “psychologically unstable person” with an “unsteady moral and ethical compass.”
CBS News spoke to Natalie Khawam’s lawyer, who didn’t address the judge’s comments directly, but allowed that any custody hearing involving children is an excruciatingly sensitive, painful, and personal proceeding. He also said he’s not representing her any more.”
sm, lol. She’s something, that’s for sure.
“WASHINGTON—The adultery scandal that led to the downfall of David Petraeus as CIA director widened Tuesday as President Barack Obama put on hold his nomination of Marine Gen. John Allen as commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, one of the world’s top military posts.
The Pentagon said a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe into Mr. Petraeus’s communications had revealed that Gen. Allen, now the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, exchanged numerous emails with Jill Kelley, the Florida woman who triggered the investigation. Ms. Kelley had complained to the FBI about receiving harassing emails that the agency later traced to a woman involved with Mr. Petraeus.
On Tuesday, people familiar with the case said that at one point in the summer, after the investigation began pointing to larger potential national security issues, Ms. Kelley tried to get the FBI to drop the matter. The people said she made the request because she was worried about the personal information being provided to investigators.” WSJ
ap, Is she a Kardashian wannabe?
“”I am an honorary consul general,” Jill Kelley said in one call Sunday to a police non-emergency number.” (from the following link/article)
http://www2.tbo.com/news/military-news/2012/nov/13/1/jill-kelley-asks-for-diplomatic-protection-from-co-ar-563651/
TAMPA —
“Upset at reporters and others outside her home, Jill Kelley has called police four times over the past two days, in one case requesting “diplomatic protection.”
In another instance, a man called 911 from the same address to complain.
…
“I am an honorary consul general,” Jill Kelley said in one call Sunday to a police non-emergency number. “I have inviolability. They should not be on my property. I don’t know if you want to get diplomatic, uh, protection involved as well. It’s against the law to cross my property. It’s inviolable.”
By the time of her fifth call, on Monday, the police knew the address and asked whether Kelley was complaining about media presence.
…
Jill Kelley’s personalized Florida license plate reads, “Honorary Consul, JK1.””
anonymously posted,
Thanks for the updates.
*****
Gene.
Thanks for the circus theme song.
idealist,
I don’t have a clue as to why you keep trying to poke me with a stick.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/richard-adams-blog/2012/nov/13/petraeus-broadwell-allen-scandal-live
“The curious case of the Kelley family is explored by the Tampa Bay Times, where Jill Kelley’s social activities meant “the Kelley mansion became the place to be seen” for military personnel stationed nearby in Tampa.
But the Tampa Bay Times article also shows an unhappier side to life:
Just three months after they posed with David and Holly Petraeus, strands of Gasparilla beads hanging from their necks, the Kelleys were hit with a foreclosure lawsuit.
The suit, brought by Central Bank against the Kelleys and Kelly Land Holdings, centered on a three-story office building at 300 E Madison St in downtown Tampa. Court records show they owed the bank nearly $2.2m, including attorney fees.
In 2011, a judge ordered the property to be put up for sale.
And there’s more:
Since the Kelleys have been in Tampa, records show, one or both have been subjects of lawsuits nine times — including an $11,000 judgment against them that originated in Pennsylvania.
Ongoing cases, the court records show, include an indebtedness case from Chase Bank; a foreclosure case from Regions Bank; and a credit card case from FIA Card Services.
Not long after the couple arrived in Tampa, Jill Kelley and her identical twin sister, Natalie Khawam, appeared for a taping of the Food Network’s reality show, Food Fight.
The segment featured sibling rivalry, with the twins cooking off against two brothers.
12.33pm ET
Those US generals and CIA directors appear to have more time on their hands than you’d imagine. According to the New York Post, both David Petraeus and John Allen intervened in a child custody law suit involving Natalie Khawam, the twin sister of Jill Kelley.
The Post has copies of both letters the two men wrote to the court as character testimonials for Kelley’s sister – which reveal that Petraeus hosted both sisters and their families for Christmas dinner in 2011.
Soap opera and telenovela writers everywhere are throwing their hands up in dismay, complaining that there’s no way they can top this stuff.”
Wait until the CIA starts in on the FBI. CIA has more folks all over the country, more than overseas.
And then the DoD will hop into the cage and then Panetta will defect to Austrlia. He always did want to do it with a “roo”.
And then Congress reveals that the JCS have a service team with volunteers from girl’s colleges around the Pentagon.
Only a few hours rto a new day.
C’mon folks. You didn’t think these people are clean?
Sorry ElaineM, I mean all those making over 50,000 a year. Oh, you’re making that. Let’s raise that to Obama’s favorite number: 250,000. Will that do you?
And the most interesting thing is how easy it is to turn up dirt on this “class” of people. You don’t
think that just these people are the only dirty ones?
Only Republicans are that stupid.
With 10K to 30 K emails between Gen Allen, our boy in Aghanistan, and this Ms Kelley, they must have a lot to talk about. What can be that interesting. Is it money or sex. My guess and that of journalists is sex. Cluster-forking as one called it.
KABAM!